Optical diagnosis using measurement sequence

Abstract

Devices, systems, and methods that facilitate optical analysis, particularly for the diagnosis and treatment of refractive errors of the eye. An optical diagnostic method for an eye includes obtaining a sequence of aberration measurements of the eye, identifying an outlier aberration measurement of the sequence of aberration measurements, and excluding the outlier aberration measurement from the sequence of aberration measurements to produce a qualified sequence of aberration measurements. The sequence of aberrations measurements can be obtained by using a wavefront sensor. An optical correction for the eye can be formulated in response to the qualified sequence of aberration measurements.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An optical diagnostic system for an eye having a pupil, the system comprising:
 a sensing device for measuring aberrations of the eye for each of a sequence of aberration measurements of the eye; and 
 a computer coupled with the sensing device, the computer comprising a processor and a computer readable medium comprising instructions executable by the processor to identify an outlier aberration measurement of the sequence of aberration measurements of the eye and exclude the outlier aberration measurement from the sequence of aberration measurements to produce a qualified sequence of aberration measurements. 
 
     
     
       2. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions are executable by the processor to formulate an optical correction for the eye in response to the qualified sequence of aberration measurements. 
     
     
       3. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the sensing device comprises a wavefront sensor. 
     
     
       4. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the sensing device determines a plurality of refractive coefficients corresponding to sensed aberrations of the eye for each measurement of the sequence of aberration measurements. 
     
     
       5. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions are executable by the processor to determine a plurality of refractive coefficients corresponding to sensed aberrations of the eye for each measurement of the sequence of measurements. 
     
     
       6. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions are executable by the processor to register the sequence of aberration measurements by using at least one of a location of the eye or an orientation of the eye. 
     
     
       7. The system of  claim 6 , further comprising a measurement device coupled with an input of the computer to measure a position of at least one of a natural feature of the eye or an artificial reference mark added to the eye so as to generate eye orientation data. 
     
     
       8. The system of  claim 1 , wherein identifying an outlier aberration measurement comprises analyzing a component aberration of the sequence of aberration measurements. 
     
     
       9. The system of  claim 1 , wherein identifying an outlier aberration measurement comprises identifying a post-blink aberration measurement that follows a blink of the eye by less than a pre-determined amount of time. 
     
     
       10. The system of  claim 9 , wherein identifying a post-blink aberration measurement comprises at least one of detecting a radius of the pupil that is less than a predetermined value, detecting a rate of change of a radius of the pupil that is greater than a predetermined rate, or detecting a radius of the pupil that is inconsistent with a linear interpolation based on nearby qualified radius measurements of the pupil. 
     
     
       11. The system of  claim 1 , wherein identifying an outlier aberration measurement comprises identifying a sphere equivalent refraction (SEQ) of the eye that is outside a predetermined range. 
     
     
       12. The system of  claim 1 , wherein identifying an outlier aberration measurement comprises identifying a rate of change of SEQ of the eye that is greater than a predetermined rate. 
     
     
       13. The system of  claim 1 , wherein identifying an outlier aberration measurement comprises identifying a SEQ of the eye for a measurement corresponding to viewing a far viewing target that differs from a manifest refraction of the eye by more than a predetermined value. 
     
     
       14. The system of  claim 1 , wherein identifying an outlier aberration measurement comprises identifying a SEQ of the eye for a measurement corresponding to viewing a near viewing target that differs from a manifest refraction of the eye minus a stimulus corresponding to the near viewing target by more than a predetermined value. 
     
     
       15. The system of  claim 1 , wherein identifying an outlier aberration measurement comprises identifying a measurement having a first wavefront fit error (WFFE) for the eye that exceeds a second WFFE for the eye by more than a predetermined amount. 
     
     
       16. The system of  claim 1 , further comprising an input receiving data from which a plurality of viewing conditions imposed upon the eye during the sequence of aberrations measurements can be determined, and wherein the instructions are executable by the processor to determine the plurality of viewing conditions and store the plurality of viewing conditions in the computer readable medium. 
     
     
       17. The system of  claim 16 , wherein the plurality of viewing conditions comprise different illumination levels. 
     
     
       18. The system of  claim 17 , wherein the illumination levels comprise an daytime illumination level and a nighttime illumination level. 
     
     
       19. The system of  claim 16 , wherein the plurality of viewing conditions comprise a first viewing condition and a second viewing condition, wherein a change from the first to the second viewing condition induces an accommodation of the eye. 
     
     
       20. The system of  claim 16 , wherein the instructions are executable by the processor to quantify statistically-significant component aberrations of the eye for a plurality of the viewing conditions. 
     
     
       21. The system of  claim 20 , wherein the instructions are executable by the processor to determine a performance of a candidate optical correction for the eye over a plurality of the viewing conditions by using a merit function that assesses the candidate optical correction relative to the plurality of the viewing conditions. 
     
     
       22. The system of  claim 21 , wherein the merit function comprises at least one factor to account for a relative importance of at least one of the plurality of viewing conditions. 
     
     
       23. The system of  claim 21 , wherein determining a performance of a candidate optical correction for the eye comprises assessing the candidate optical correction relative to the quantified component aberrations for each of the plurality of viewing conditions over a portion of the eye corresponding to a pupil size of the eye and a pupil location of the eye for the viewing condition. 
     
     
       24. The system of  claim 16 , wherein the instructions are executable by the processor to:
 determine a performance of each of a plurality of candidate optical corrections for the eye over each of a plurality of the viewing conditions; and 
 determine a prescriptive optical correction for the eye in response to the determined performances for the candidate optical corrections.